Fear of the Dark
by Ode to Ivy
Summary: Why would someone who can emit light be scared of the dark? Charles knows; he looked into the deepest, darkest crevices of her mind. But Erik doesn't need powers to see how truly in pain Karme is. How mortified, desperate, and damaged she is. But she's not alone. Not anymore, and certainly not ever again. Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto love story
1. Prologue

"Μητέρα! ατέρας! ά? έξ με φίλους . Θα είμαι πίσ για το μεσημεριανό γεύμα! _(Mother! Father! I'm going out with friends. I'll be back for lunch!)_ " The young child called from the first floor of her small, Grecian house. Around her, her friends giggled and played, waiting for the okay that she too could join them in fun activities.

"Εντάξει , παιδί μου . Να είναι ασφαλής , σ 'αγαπώ _.(Okay, my child. Be safe, I love you.)_ " A kind woman emerged from the upper floor and replied, kneeling down in front of her small child only to place a soft kiss to her forehead. The woman's dark eyes sparkled as she gazed at her child running away, playfully shoving and play fighting with the other children.

"Ωχ ! Ωχ ! Δεν τα μαλλιά! _(Ow! Ow! Not the hair!)"_ A boy shouted and the young girl playfully stuck her tongue out at him, chasing after him as he ran away as fast as her skinny little legs could carry her. They weaved in and out of merchant's carts, causing the merchants to quickly get out of their way as they ran past, most smiling and laughing while others scolded them for getting in the way. They ran past houses and in between carts on the street, high-pitched giggles echoing around town.

The small village was abuzz in the morning light, with street vendors selling and elder children doing their chores. They ran past parents and grandparents sitting in chairs on porches, and ducked passed wobbly carts pulled by mules and donkeys. It wasn't a poor village by any means. It wasn't rich either, as the locals chose to stay away from the new technology the rest of the world seemed to be acquiring. There were no cars or telephones, very few houses had electricity and certainly none of them had air conditioning. The village itself was situated below cliff, houses nuzzled together in a rather homey feeling. The village couldn't grow if it wanted too; the river cut off their land. But nobody complained, because it was a happy place—as evident by the constant laughing and happy smiles on townspeople's faces.

The little boy, not much older than her, held a lot more energy in his skinny body, however. She soon found her self falling behind.  
"Λουκά, περιμένετε ! Δεν μπορώ να συμβαδίσει! _(Luka, wait! I can't keep up!)"_ She called after him, a hint of whine in her tone. The other kids of their group had been long left behind, as they usually were. She huffed and puffed as she rounded a corner, coming face to face with a dead end. She slammed into the wall, stumbling back on her butt. Much to her frustration, tears started to roll off the young girl's face, the pain from the contact making blurry spots appear in her vision.

"Oh my," A rough voice said behind her, causing her head to snap around to connect the voice with a face. "Little flower are you okay?" She didn't recognize almost any of the words coming from the man dressed in the business suit. But his clothes and words left her to conclude that he was from America.  
"You speak…the English?" She asked between sniffles, gazing up at him with tear filled eyes.

"Ναι, αλλά έχ? μιλήσει , επίσης, τη γλώσσα του λαού σας. ού είναι η μητέρα και ο πατέρας σας , το μικρό? _(Yes, but I also speak the language of your people. Where are your mother and father, little one?)_ " The man asked, bending over to pick her up and place her on her feet. His grip was firm, and looking into the man's eyes caused her to shake with fear. His dark eyes weren't the same kind, loving ones as her mother's. No, the eyes she looked into now were full of mischief and danger. She shakily pointed in the direction of her house, too scared to speak any further, and also too scared to look away from him.  
"Very good," She heard the man say, though she didn't know what that meant. She retracted her hand to her side, nervously kicking her sandal-clad foot in the dirt.

"Θα πας να μου κάνει κακό? _(Are you going to hurt me?)"_ She asked in a burst of confidence, watching as the man's shoulders started to shake with laughter.  
"Όχι, το μικρό. ά? να βεβαι?θείτε ότι έχετε πάει σε ένα καλό σπίτι. Οι άνθρ?ποι ροστασίας Μαρτύρ?ν είναι μεγάλη στο να κρύβουν μεταλλάξεις. _(No, little one. I'm going to make sure you go to a good home. The Witness Protection people are great at hiding mutants.)"_ He responded to her, motioning behind him with his hand and suddenly two more men in black suits appeared before her, slowly surrounding her until she was backed up against the building. New tears started to well in her eyes, tears of fear about how they found out, and tears of fear about where they were going to take her.  
And as a man grabbed onto her arm, she started to glow. Her tanned skin turned a faint yellow color, and then it grew in strength, the yellow turning white and consuming her body until she glowed like a flashlight.

"Hide it! Take that thing away!" The first man in the suit barked orders and the two men holding onto her carried her to a small black box, barely big enough for her body. They threw her in, and just before they closed the door she asked;

"Μήπ?ς ο φίλος μου να σας π? _(Did my friend tell you?)"_

And then the door was closed, cutting off her brightness form the outside world. She felt the box shift, and pulled her knees to her chest. She heard movement outside of the box, and then a voice.

"Όχι, αλλά η μητέρα σας έκανε. _(No, but your mother did.)_ "


	2. O N E

"Why hello the-are you okay?," a soft British voice asked from beside the girl sitting at the bar. A drink had been placed in her hand long ago and it remained full as she stared at it with distaste. The man's words were lost in the loud noises of the nightclub, and she would have continued to sit there, glued to her bar seat forever, if not for the the hand placed gently on her shoulder. Startled, she gasped and flung her drink in his direction, spilling the alcohol contents all over him and his friend. And it was as she turned that the two men could see, in the disco lights of the dance, her tear-stained cheeks and puffy eyes. Her silky brown hair lay around her shoulders in a disheveled way, her clothes-way too ordinary and mundane for a night out clubbing- were wrinkled and stained with what seemed to be blood. But what was, perhaps, the most disturbing thing of all; was the horrified expression stuck to her face. It made her look much older than she actually was; mouth open and ready to scream for help, and her eyes. Those brown eyes that held so much fear in them it seemed impossible.

"I-uh-s-s-s-..." she stumbled, clutching the glass so hard in her hand her knuckles were turning white. She stood in a defensive stance, feet turned as if she was going to run at any moment.

One of the men stepped forward. Her deep brown eyes, the ones that held so much fear, frantically swept over him. He was young and thin, with long brown hair. It was hard to tell the color of his eyes in the ever changing light, but she did see wisdom in them.

"What have you seen?" He asked, almost to himself. It was hard for the girl to understand what he was saying. She flinched as someone bumped into her, and in that moment she took the appearance of a cornered animal. Fear made her look sickly. He held up a hand to his head and gazed at her, and she started to scream. Clutching her head she fell to the ground.

"Stop! What are you doing? GET OUT!" She cried, kicking her feet out in front of her. The recent memories of the night replayed in her head, the horrific scenes that she was trying so desperately to forget were forcefully shoved before her eyes once again. Her screams of agony were lost among those of pleasure in the raging crowd. He was doing this, she realized. The glass had fallen from her hand and shattered on the floor, shards sticking into her sweaty palms as she pressed them to the ground in a desperate attempt to flee the scene, but she couldn't feel the pain. She also couldn't escape. She pushed herself back until she was underneath the bar counter, unable to back away any further.

"Charles! What are you doing?" The second man asked, stepping forward from his spot in the back. He was taller than his friend, and more muscular. His eyes were harsh in the light, his voice strong and powerful. His hair was shorter as well, and his accent wasn't British. It was German.  
Charles took his hand away from his head, eyes going wide. "I barely looked, I swear!" He paused for a moment before he turned to his friend and shook his head. "She holds so much pain," he said with concern laced in his tone.

"Who _are_ you?" The girl screamed at them from the floor, starting to shake. Fresh tears started to pour down her already tear-stained face as she waited for an answer. They were here to kill her; she was positive. The same people who killed them- back for the last one. None of the other party goers payed the three any attention; the music was too loud and the lights were too bright to do anything but squeal and party.

Charles walked over until he stood directly in front of her, his eyes filled with sadness as he looked down at the mess of a girl sobbing on the floor. It was almost as if he knew what pain she was going through. But he couldn't have, she assured herself. Nobody could even begin to understand her pain.

"My name is Charles Xavier and this," he motioned to the man behind him who stepped forward until he was directly next to Charles, "is my friend Erik Lehnsherr."

"What do you want with me?" She whispered, gazing between the two men with ever-wide eyes. She was surprised to see that Charles seemed to hear what she said.

"We wish to recruit you. You see, like you, we too are mutants." Charles explained, a smirk threatening to play on his lips. The girl on the floor gasped, staring at them with wide eyes.

"How did you know...?"

 _You're not the only one with a gift_ , a voice spoke in her mind, causing her to gasp once more.

"It's alright," Charles cooed to her, smiling gently. She forced herself to wipe her eyes, smearing blood from her hands onto her face.

"R-recruit me for what?" She asked with a sniffle.

"We're trying to stop a man named Sebastian Shaw. We've been gathering as many powerful mutants as we can in order to do so." Erik's emotionless voice matched his emotionless stare as he answered her question. She gazed at him before her attention was drawn back to Charles.

"He's very powerful. And very dangerous." He shared another look with Erik. "Please. We need your help."

"You need my help?" She asked, exasperated. "You can enter people's minds!" She turned her wide-eyed gaze back to Erik. "And what can you do?"

"A trick for another time, perhaps." He smiled, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Come on, show us what _you_ can do." He urged her.

He pushed on, asking once more, urging her to reveal her secret. She looked at him, and then to Charles, who simply nodded at her. She gazed down at her shaking hands, staring at them for a second. And then another one. Charles and Erik shared a look, one of boredom. They gazed back at her only to find her starting to glow. She was encased in gold, light radiating from her skin until she was the sun. It was painful to look at but the intense beauty of it also made it impossible to look away. They stared in amazement as she spread her arms; the light encasing her body and turning her into golden rays. She glowed until she was the brighter than the disco lights; brighter than anything they had ever seen.

That's when people started to notice. They pointed and stared, some even screamed as her glowing skin faded back into its regular caramel colored tone and she ducked her head at the oncoming insults. She knew this was going to happen. Whenever anyone found out what she could do they never stopped to appreciate the beauty of it. They just noticed how different she was. And different was always bad.

" Ew, what _is_ that?"

" It's one of _them_."

" _Get it out of here_!"

Erik turned and held a hand out to her. "What an _amazing_ talent. What's your name?"

She gazed at that strong hand, gears in her mind racing. He had called her mutation amazing. She tilted her gaze up until it met with his, and she found it hard to look away. So she didn't.

"I'm Karme," she said in response to his question, slipping her nimble hand, still filled with shards of glass, into his larger, much more secure one.


	3. T W O

The walk to the car was soundless, though many times almost broken by Charles's urge to speak. Silencing glares from Erik and the permanently shocked expression seemingly glued to Karme's face stopped him from breaking the quiet.

Karme. She still shook with fear, refusing to look anywhere else but her tattered shoes as she blindly followed wherever they were going. Her hand was still encased in Erik's, though she hadn't realized it in her trance-like state of mind. In fact, Karme hadn't even realized they had stopped until finally, a soft voice spoke out to her.

"Karme, it's alright, we are not going to hurt you. You can get in the car." Her head snapped in the direction of the voice, eyes wide with sudden fear. Charles gazed back at her with a sorrowful expression of his own. She looked around to see a sleek grey car in front of her, back door already open so she could get in. She glanced back at the two men, Charles nodding as if telling her it was alright.

"And you can stop holding my hand while you're at it." Erik's gruff voice interrupted her fear but still surprised her. She gazed down at their hands, his now bloody from her wounds.

"O-oh. Right. I'm so sorry," she whispered, retracting her hand from his and holding it against her chest.

"I just meant, you know, so we could wrap it or whatever." He reasoned, to which he got no reply. Karme simply nodded and got into the car. The door was closed for her, and as she stared straight ahead she heard the front doors open and close. The car engine started and then she was moving.

This was wrong. This was crazy. She had to get out of here, now. She didn't even know these men and here she was in a car with them. They had messed up, told her they were looking for powerful mutants. But she wasn't powerful; she was just a human flashlight. Most of the time she couldn't even turn on her powers when she wanted to. They were going to kill her, they really were. They were here to finish the job, they were-

"Karme? Did you hear me?" She flinched, looking up from the car's floor only to meet Charles's concerned gaze through the rearview mirror. Thought unable to tell in the ever changing club lights, Karme could now clarify that his eyes were an aquamarine blue; somehow more comforting to know. His alluring eyes narrowed slightly, as if processing information, before returning back to the road.

"No, I'm sorry. What did you say?" Karme managed to choke out, focusing on the back of his headrest while she tried to calm herself. She concentrated on breathing in and out consecutively, counting each intake of air.

"I said that you haven't any need to worry. Whatever horrors you've been through; you're safe now." His words oddly soothed her mind, flowing over her like a cool wave of ocean air. She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she counted to ten before releasing the air, letting it flow from her body like she wished the depraved events of earlier that night would.

"Where did you say we were going?" With her newfound courage and clarity of mind also came the sudden awareness of the burning sensation coursing through her hands. She gasped slightly, clutching them to her chest tighter. As she looked down at them, she could visibly see the shards of glass embedded in her flesh, droplets of blood oozing from the scratches.

"I'm sorry, I didn't actually say," Charles apologized, taking a slow corner with the car. "We're going to a secret CIA base just a couple more hours from here. You'll be safe there, Karme." They shared another gaze through the mirror, before Charles added something almost as an afterthought. "There are other mutants there, as well," he said excitedly, gripping the wheel with a bit more force. "There's Raven and Sean, Hank and Alex, Armando, Angel. You'll love them." Karme smiled, working up a response when Erik cut in.

"There's also Moira." She shifted her gaze to the quiet man, watching as the corner of his mouth turned upward into a soft smirk.

"Oh, is she a mutant too?" Karme questioned lightly, watching as Erik glanced at her through the rearview mirror, smirk almost making it up to his eyes. She also noticed Charles's knuckles turning white on the steering wheel, a hard frown set upon his face.

"No. No she is not."

Karme nodded and decided to let that be that. Carefully resting her burning hands in her lap, she turned and pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the car window, finding the nighttime sky to be increasingly more welcome than the bright lights and atrocious music of the club.

The car ride went on in silence, Karme unsure if it was because she was present, or maybe that was just how things were. She found the pain in her hands lessened the more distracted she became, so she tried desperately to find quiet things to do but even she grew tired of watching the stars shift in the sky. She bit her tongue through the hours of travel; at one point so hard that she tasted the metallic flavor of blood. Finally, much to her gratitude, it was Erik who broke the silence.

"How much further, Charles?" He asked, rubbing a hand over his ruggedly handsome face. Karme quietly smiled at this, not taking Erik to be the kind to ask such a childish question. Karme especially liked the sound of Erik's accent as he pronounced Charle's name and snuck a glance at him, finding him sigh and lean back in his chair.

"Just a bit Erik. Cool off, mate." Charles's annoyed response reminded Karme of her adoptive father whenever her younger step-sisters would ask similar questions. His voice was annoyed, yet lightly amused and filled with nothing but honesty and wisdom. Her mouth fell into a frown at the thought of this, her heart aching worse than her hands. She forced her eyes to remain open as to not deal with the images that would inevitably appear if she were to close them. They too began to sting after a while, sparking tears to form in the corners of her eyes.

"You alright back there? You haven't said anything for a while." Karme was suddenly aware that she was still staring at Erik as his dark eyes unexpectedly met hers, intense and intriguing all at once. She forced herself to nod, fearful of his gaze yet still more afraid to look away.

"You sure don't say much," he commented gruffly, turning away from her and facing forward once more.

"Leave the poor girl be, Erik," Charles chided, turning to give a quick glare to his friend. Karme returned her gaze to the floor of the car, finding it spotted with droplets of her blood.

"What? I was only observing. Aren't you the one always telling me to use my brain?" Erik retorted harshly, raising a dark brow.

"Yes, and would you had; you'd have known not to say that." Charles continued to lecture Erik much to his annoyance and he pouted, much like a teacher scolding a young student.

"It's fine, really," Karme insisted, giving an intent nod of her head. "I'm not normally like…this…I'm sorry."

"Ah, she _is_ capable of speech." Erik's words were much less intended as an insult towards her, rather they were a way of getting further under Charles's skin.

"Erik, for the love of God!" Charles exclaimed, causing another smirk to lay claim to Erik's lips.

"Oh look, we've arrived," he grinned, opening his door as Charles halted the car. "What a pleasant road trip."

"Erik," Charles warned, raising a brow, but was cut off as Erik slammed his door shut.

Karme couldn't help but to smile at their interaction, starting to grasp what their relationship consisted of. However, it was soon wiped off her face as her car door was suddenly opened, and Erik's hand was once more offered to her.

She flinched slightly, drawing away from him almost instinctively. "But my hand's covered in blood," she protested, finding Erik's lips twitch upward in a half smirk.

"That didn't stop me the first time." He pushed his hand slightly more towards her and she glanced at her own before shaking her head.

"No, thank you. I don't want to add any more of my blood to your hand." Erik stared at her intently for a moment, before nodding and retracting his hand. Standing out of her way so she could exit the car, he gently closed the door for her when she went to do it herself.

"Thank you," she smiled, it again falling when he only turned away from her and began walking.

"Don't mind Erik, he's a bit of an ass, but he can be alright sometimes." She turned to find Charles leaning against the car across from her, giving her a gentle smile. He nodded his head in the direction in front of them, also beginning to walk away.

"Come on, this way." She hurried after him, trying to keep pace while also taking in the entirety of the CIA base. While classified as one main building, several parts jutted out from the square center, each building off each other until it appeared to be one giant man-made beehive.

She gazed up as Charles held the door open for her, watching with a fascinated smile. Karme was amazed at how high the towering building went, and while it was not a skyscraper by any means, she wondered how the CIA had managed to keep this monstrosity hidden from the public for so long.

She was taken from her thoughts as Charles cleared his throat, causing her to duck her head in embarrassment and enter the building. She saw Erik waiting for them up ahead, his dark gaze following her with every step.

"You know, I don't believe we ever got your last name," Charles called from behind her, causing her eyes to fall to the floor in front of her.

"Green," she called back, voice falling to a whisper. "Karme Green."

"Ah, lovely," Charles smiled at her as they stopped, a genuine, happy smile that took over all the soft features of his charming face.

Karme narrowed her eyebrows, gazing between the two men. "You're not going to ask me what happened?"

"You will tell us, when you're ready," Erik responded, nodding to her. A grateful smile placed itself on her mouth as she nodded slowly.

"Thank you."

"Ah, Erik? Would you mind showing Karme here around? I need to have a word with some…CIA…agents," Charles requested, his sentence falling a bit short at the end as he looked down the hallway to Karme's right. She turned to look as well, though turned back upon finding no one there.

"He means Moira," Erik explained with a sly grin, nodding his head and signaling Karme to follow as he turned and went down the opposite hallway. As Karme followed, she could distinctively hear Charles trying to disagree, but that ended with a sigh on his part and soon Karme could hear his footsteps fade away.

"Hey, Erik?" She asked a few seconds later, receiving a raise of the brow and a hum in response. "What you said about my mutation, did you really mean that? I'm not strong, and it's just that Charles said you two were looking for powerful mutants." She looked at him and shook her head, unable to finish her sentence with the right words.

Erik suddenly turned into a room, catching Karme slightly off-guard. She trailed after him, finding them to be in a grand kitchen. She had barely any time to admire it before Erik's words cut her off, drawing her attention back to him.

"Every mutant is different. 'Special', it you will," he offered, opening a wooden draw and taking out a rag. "While some mutants might have similar abilities, I believe that no two of anything can be exactly the same."

Karme frowned slightly, shaking her head as he dampened the cloth under spewing water from the sink. "That's not what I meant." She didn't want or need a speech about how they were all snowflakes, each one taking a different form. Her adoptive parents had always told her that was a lie anyway, and that snowflakes had certain structural categories and sub-categories, but that not everyone could be different. That was impossible, and it was very important to know what was impossible when you lived in a world full of possibilities.

"Humans, for example," he continued, walking over to where she leaned against the granite counter, "are all stupid. However, their levels of stupidity vary in ways only special to them." A shark-like grin accompanied his dark eyes as he gingerly took her bloodied hand in his own. Her eyes snapped down to their hands, hers shaking from forgotten pain, his as strong and sturdy as his gaze.

"You don't have to be powerful," he whispered in a soft voice, tugging her closer to the sink so he could wash her hands in the water, "in order to do great things."

Karme had already concluded that his accent was one of her favorite things about Erik, no matter how selfish and egotistical that might be. The authority and power he held within his words led her to believe in everything he said, no matter how much she wanted to disagree. His words stuck to her mind, making them impossible to shake off. She lived her life being weak, wishing one day that she would acquire just an ounce of strength so that she might aspire to do something. Anything. She shook her head, drawing her lips into a tight line.

"Is that so?" She asked, finding courage within herself to connect her gaze to his, searching his eyes for any signs of lies. She found none.

"You'll meet everyone tomorrow. You'll see," he told her, breaking their gaze. She followed his eyes as they wandered down to her newly unbloodied hands, softly resting in his own. "The cuts aren't deep. Let me wrap them tonight and they'll be fine." He offered, gently turning her hands over so her palms faced up. She admired the way they seemed to fit perfectly into his, even allowing herself a hidden smile.

"No, thank you, I can manage," she replied coolly, taking her hands from his delicate grip. She scolded her brain for letting her act so foolishly after the events of the night. She didn't know Erik, or Charles, or anybody here. Had her family still been alive they would have been disappointed, they would have expected more. She closed her hands into fists, the slight stinging sensation drawing her back to the real world. They were never disappointed in her, how dare she tarnish their names with false thoughts.

He nodded to her, wringing the cloth in the sink before raising it to her face. She flinched slightly, drawing away from him. She wasn't used to the actions of other people, having lived such a secluded and hidden life.

"You've got blood on your cheek," Erik informed her, rolling his heavy brown eyes. He moved again, this time Karme held still, and she felt the warm cloth press gently against her cheek, Erik bringing it away just as soon and running it under water.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" He asked her, his features back to their hard, mocking ways. She shook her head, turning away from him and tapping her fingers on the countertop.

"What can you do then? If Charles can," she tried to think of words, turning back towards him and throwing her hands up. "I don't know- read minds! If Charles can do that, what mutation do you have?"

"Charle's doesn't just read minds; he can control them. Feed you thoughts and make you do terrible things."

"He doesn't seem like the type of person to do something like that," Karme spoke quizzically, finding it hard to imagine a Charles who made people jump of buildings or pull the trigger.

"He's not," Erik retorted, almost as if that were a bad thing. "Charles is much too soft to do anything but read thoughts. What's information for one should be information for all, I guess. Or at least information for Charles." He leaned against the counter next to her, crossing his strong arms against his chest. His leather jacket creased as he did so, Karme watching as he glared at the clock across the wall.

"Everyone will be up in a few hours if you want to take the time now to rest. I can show you to your room." Though his words implied she had a choice, he exited the kitchen without hesitation and didn't wait up as Karme struggled after him.

"But what about your mutation? What is it?" She asked, wanting more than anything to find out.

"A trick for another time perhaps," he said, flexing his hands. Karme tilted her head, narrowing her eyes.

"That's what you said at the club," she remembered, stomping after him impatiently.

"Yes, and you didn't listen then so here's to hoping you'll listen now." She huffed and was about to make a witty retort when he sent her a silencing glare, continuing their walk in quiet.

"You haven't actually shown me anything here," she commented after a while, a bit irritated with his attitude. "How am I supposed to navigate through this place? It's huge!"

"Well you know where the kitchen is, no? What else could you need?" An infuriating smirk played on his lips as Karme glared at him, it only growing as he realized how aggravated she was.

"Erik," she began to scold, now seeing how tiring this must get for Charles. Besides that, Karme had just been following Erik blindly when they arrived upon the kitchen. She let out a sigh.

"Oh, don't chide me. I get enough of that from Charles." Erik snapped, opening a door and fake bowing to her. "Your room."

"Well maybe Charles wouldn't chide you if you would just-" Her words were cut short as Erik turned and walked away, leaving her standing with an open mouth, looking similar to the fool she felt like.

"I'm just down the hall; don't bother me unless you're dying. But if that is the case, try to keep it down, some people like to sleep." Karme sneered at his retreating form, though stared after him until he entered another room, the door slamming shut behind him.

"What an ass," she commented to herself, nodding and entering her room. "If I'm dying, you're the last person I would go to," she determined, gently closing the door.

Her room was almost gigantic, much to her distaste, a large, grey square of concrete with carpeted floor and a bed bigger than life. Tall oak dressers lined the wall opposite her, four large but empty bookshelves to her left and right, and directly across from the bed sat a bench and a large mirror, oddly inviting and haunting at the same time.

She walked towards it with fear, scared of what she might find. Looking into it her worst nightmares were brought to life; her caramel skin drained of all color and sickly to the sight. Her normally silky hair lay messily upon her head, haunting brown eyes and a permanent frown glued to her face. Upon seeing the blood on her shirt Karme spun the mirror around so it faced the wall, heavy breaths coming from her lips.

She threw the shirt off, searching the dressers until she found spare attire stamped with the CIA logo. Oddly familiar with the clothes, she stripped and changed, landing into the soft covers of the bed with a tired groan.

It was safe to say that she stayed there for the rest of the night and into early morning, waking up every few minutes from terrible nightmares and horrific memories.

It was also safe to say that occasionally Charles would find himself awake, mind troubled by the images floating around in her head.

As for Erik, he would wake up only when she called out in her sleep, pleading and begging almost incoherently. On the last one he found himself unable to return to sleep, remaining awake until morning and wondering who Lily and Robert were.


	4. T H R E E

Charles came to get Karme sooner than she would have liked. He found her sitting in the corner of the room, idly playing with the hem of her shirt and staring off to her right. Her eyes met his feet as they got closer and followed his legs up until she was looking right at him. Charles had never seen somebody look so tired.

"Would you like to meet the others?" It was almost as if he didn't know what to say; his uncomfortableness at the situation made him fidget. Karme nodded slowly.

"Did you…could you…" Her hands twitched as she tried to ask the question. "Did you read my dreams last night?"

Charles looked guilty. "It's alright," she said quickly, pulling herself off the floor. "I thought you did anyway. My head hurt again last night, more than usual. It was kind of like we were back at the bar. I got a feeling that was you."

"You feel when I read your thoughts?" He looked almost bewildered, and Karme nervously wondered why. How horrible it would be to not feel when someone was invading your privacy, searching through your deepest, darkest secrets. She couldn't seem to stop him, but at least she knew he was doing it. Did other people – victims – not have that privilege?

"Well yea. Doesn't everybody?" Karme asked, running a bandaged hand through her hair and over her grey face. Turning to look, she saw that he was utterly confused and a bit awestruck.

"No, I can't say that they do. I'd love to run some tests. I wonder…" He trailed off, his hand coming up to rub at his chin. Karme managed an attempt at smiling.

"Sure."

At her response Charles' head snapped up and his face fell a bit. "I truly am sorry Karme. The pain you have been through…it's unbearable. Even to me. Everything you've been through; it's all not fair. I understand that life isn't exactly fair, but yours really truly has been a burden and it doesn't have to be that way anymore. You can have a family again, like you did back in Greece –" Karme flinched so hard that Charles immediately stopped talking. "I'm sorry did I-?"

"No, no, it's fine," she mumbled, staring at the floor. "I just didn't know you saw it all."

"If there's any way that I can help you—"

"Let you know?" she guessed, opening her door and turning to face him. "You told me you were recruiting powerful mutants to stop a bad man. It sounds like you want an army, not a family."

"Sebastian Shaw is a very bad man who has done very bad things. Yes, we want to stop him, but everybody else here is lacking something too. Something we can all have after Shaw is stopped: a family."

Karme's eyebrows furrowed. "I've had two families, Charles. One betrayed me and the other got killed because of me. If I'm here it's to fight. I'm done playing nice."

He shook his head, opening his mouth and closing it again. "Come now, let's go meet the others."

Karme went to walk out the door, but Charles called after her.

"We'll talk more when the time is right, yes?"

"It depends on what you mean by talking." She threw a pointed look his way, earning a sympathetic one in response. Karme really wasn't interested in him invading any more of her privacy, though she wondered and then doubted if she even had a choice. After all, Charles was in her mind last night for the nightmares. He surely knew more than he was letting on, yet he failed to bring it up or even hint at acknowledgment. She wondered how sympathetic he really was.

Not that she wanted or needed his sympathy. Or his pity. Karme figured he was doing her a favor by not bringing it up. She dealt with it enough every night, and now he knew that, so perhaps he had enough common sense not to torture her even further. Or maybe he was just waiting for the right time to strike. Karme didn't know him well enough yet to take a fair guess.

"I'm sorry, Karme. I know it was wrong of me to look at your thoughts. I promise to never read your mind or interfere with your dreams without your permission…and based on your facial expression I can tell that you don't believe me." He seemed to be truthful, yet Karme didn't feel any better about the situation.

"Come on, let's go meet the others," she decided. They would have time to 'talk' later if Charles wanted, but Karme felt they were getting too close to choppy water as it was. She would have to watch the way she carried herself around him, if he struck true to his words and didn't read her mind, perhaps he could still decipher the way she carried herself or tried to find the right smile to hide behind. She didn't know what was worse.

Exasperated, Charles gave her a light smile and she followed him through the hallways. "Trust me, Karme, it _will_ be different here."

"If I haven't heard _that_ all my life," a gruff voice spoke up from beside Karme, making her jump. He smirked and settled at a pace besides them. "What other lies are you feeding the poor girl, Charles?"

"Erik, they are not lies. I swear; you two are going to be the death of me."

"She's that bad, huh?" Erik asked, smirking. "Well, at least you got her hands bandaged up."

Karme, otherwise quiet and steadily moving along with them, narrowed her eyes in confusion and looked up at the taller man. "No, that was you."

Erik stopped, so Karme and Charles did the same. He narrowed his eyes back at her, shaking his head. "What are you talking about?"

"Last night!" Karme exclaimed, throwing her hands in between them. "You took me to the kitchen and cleaned my hands and talked all about how 'being weak doesn't mean you can't do great things' and then pretty much ditched me with no clue of how to get around this place!"

Erik's face was growing stonier as her explanation went on, and Karme could have sworn that it also carried annoyance, though not at her. As she finished, Erik simply glared at Charles. Upon receiving a questioning look in return, Erik sighed.

"She's _your_ friend," he rumbled, and Charles' eyes widened.

"You don't think?"

"Oh, I think a great many things, Charles, but I'm quite sure about this. Who else?"

"Who else who?" Karme asked, utterly confused at what was happening. Did last night not happen? Was it an image implanted in her mind by Charles? Could he even do that? But then why were they talking about some friend? Karme's head swam with so many questions that she had to hold a hand to her head to study herself. "What's going on?"

Erik started to walk again, his fists clenched slightly and posture as flawless as ever. Shocked, Karme looked to Charles only to see that he had moved on as well, and she hurried after both of them.

"Let's just say you've already met Raven," Erik mentioned, making Karme shake her head.

"What are you talking about? It was-"

"Raven. It was Raven."

"Raven is a mutant just like all of us," Charles explained, capturing her attention. "Except she can shape-shift, for a lack of better wording. She can shift the atoms in her body to duplicate or represent any humanoid of either sex, wearing any kind of clothing."

"So she can look like anyone?"

"Not just look like them," Charles answered, shaking his head. "Since her powers go down to the molecular level, she can duplicate a number of various things: retinal scans, finger, palm and skin patterns, vocal cords, you get the idea."

"So that's why she sounded like Erik." Karme said, causing Charles to smile. Erik rolled his eyes and kept walking.

"Precisely! Very good." Charles' complimenting words made a small smile appear on her lips though it quickly vanished. She wanted to slap herself for feeling so stupid; why did Charles' praise automatically mean so much to her? It must have been another one of his mind tricks. But he didn't seem to be doing anything. Maybe he was just one of those people who made you feel accomplished; he tells you that you can do something and suddenly you believe you can too.

Robert had been like that.

"Yes, Charles, it is amazing. Not annoying or childish by any means," Erik said out of boredom. Karme couldn't place it, but there was something about Erik that made her both relaxed and completely on edge at the same time. He seemed to be an honest person – brash and rude, but honest. However, there was just something about how he managed to portray so much raw emotion by saying or doing so little that made her extremely uncomfortable. Or maybe she was intrigued. Erik caught her staring and she quickly looked away.

"Karme, welcome to Division X." Charles' British voice drew her gaze up to another room made of concrete, a large glass window looking inside. Behind it, five people stared back at her.

"Come, come, make yourself at home," Charles said, holding the door open for her. She looked at Erik who simply waved her in and she entered the room.

"Karme, I believe you've already met _Raven_ ," Erik said once the door was shut behind him. Immediately all the smiling faces dropped and a tall female with blonde hair took a seat and crossed her arms, her eyes rolling at Erik's harsh glare.

"What?" She asked, smiling at Karme. "I wanted to check out the new girl." Karme didn't return her warm smile, still offended and disturbed by the previous night's situation.

"I'm Darwin," a dark skinned man called out to her. She reached out to shake his hand, retracting it as it drew attention.

"It's nice to meet you." She pursed her lips, folding her arms and hiding her hands as best she could.

One by one they introduced themselves, and Karme found it easy to match their names to their faces. Once all of the introductions were made, Karme turned towards Charles and Erik. While Charles looked amused and delighted that everything was going well, Erik looked just as stone-faced as usual. But he didn't fail to voice his opinion.

"Charles, we have work to do. Let the children play." Karme couldn't believe her ears. With raised eyebrows she looked at Darwin who simply shrugged. Nobody said a work as Charles and Erik left, and Karme spun on them as soon as the door had closed.

"Let the _children play_?" She questioned, astounded further as none of them seemed to care.

"He's like that," Darwin reasoned. "A complete asshole, yes, but he and Charles have a thing."

"A thing?" Karme asked, sitting between him and Angel on the couch.

"Not like that!" Raven laughed, and Sean rolled his eyes.

"You're just saying that because you liiiike him." The rest of the group laughed except for Hank, who looked quite uncomfortable. Karme noticed that he was the only one not sitting down.

"Come sis down," she called to him, motioning to the only empty spot next to Raven. He looked even more uncomfortable to have more attention drawn to him. He quickly fumbled to his seat, Alex laughing as he did so.

"Jesus dude, clumsy much?" Karme shot him a questioning glance and shook her head. He rolled his eyes at her and leaned back in his seat. "You people are no fun."

They talked for a while more and Karme slowly drifted to the back of their conversation, finding herself slightly overwhelmed. She was about to excuse herself and try and find her way back to her room, however long that would take her, when Darwin's words caught her attention.

"So, Karme, what happened to your hands?"

"Yea, does it have something to do with your mutation?" Sean asked, leaning forward in his seat out of excitement.

"Hey, what even is your power?" Alex pestered, finalizing everybody's attention onto Karme. She twisted uncomfortable in her seat, struggling to find anything to say.

"Karme?" Raven asked worriedly, her soft features contorted into a caring face. Karme shook her head.

"It's a long story," she whispered.

There was a long pause. _They're waiting for an explanation!_ Karme realized, dreading having to tell them the story. Thankfully, Raven came to her rescue and changed the subject.

"We should think of codenames!" She flared her body dramatically and added, "We're government agents now; we should have secret codenames."

Everyone turned to look at her and Karme let out an audible breath of relief. Hank must have noticed because his eyes flickered to hers, but they quickly focused back onto Raven as an adorable, child-like smile formed on her beautiful face. Karme smiled to herself. _Cute._

"I want to be called Mystique."

"Daaaaaamn, I wanted to be called Mystique," Sean bumbled, causing everybody to laugh.

The night went on, each of them showing off their powers and coming up with a cool codename. Karme flinched as Sean demonstrated his sonic echo, her eyes again meeting with Hank's as he was the only spectator to her fear. She quickly looked away before anything could be done or said about it.

There was a little bit when Alex picked on Hank but Raven was quick to defend him. Karme watched with interest, trying to catch his gaze again but he seemed to purposefully avoid her. Either way, she didn't get a demonstration of his powers.

Alex's, however, truly frightened her. Karme was never a big fan of anything dangerous or eye-capturing. Quite unfortunate, seeing as her power draws in an awful lot of attention and now Erik and Charles where telling her that it was quite powerful, too. Unlike the others, Karme did not need to be told a second time as Alex warned them to get behind the wall and stay there. Seeing the aftermath of the destroyed statue was enough of a clue for her to piece things together.

Finally, it was her turn.

"So, how about you, Karme? What's your mutation?" Darwin asked. There was no way Karme couldn't answer them now. They all looked so happy, so excited. Like a bunch of children at a birthday party. Karme knew what that was like, her own little sisters being quite the handful themselves. Or, at least, they were.

"I, uh, sort of glow." She said pathetically.

"What, like a flashlight?" Alex snorted, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Kind of, yea."

"Well, let's see it!" Raven shouted and everybody nodded their heads. Even Hank, who Karme wished would have understood. Who was she fooling herself, they don't know what happened. Why would they do anything but ask her to show off her mutation just like everybody else had?

"Well, I, um, I can't really control it. Sometimes …. Sometimes I don't know how to turn it on." She whispered, looking at the ground.

"Just try it," Raven encouraged yet again, but gently and reassuringly. Karme swallowed.

Squeezing her eyes closed and focusing, Karme drew in a deep breath and held it for as long as she could. Trying to use the urge of breathing as a fuel to spark her mutation, she didn't open her eyes or indulge herself in the sweet air until she heard murmurs of the others. Opening her eyes, Karme felt herself encased in the same golden light as the night before, and as the night she was taken from her country. She quickly lost focus and her skin seemed to flicker on and off, the dull caramel of her skin finally settling back.

"Hey, cool!" Sean grinned stupidly, raising a bottle to her in cheers.

"What should we call you?" Raven inquired eagerly as the others nodded in approval.

"Just….Karme," she answered, rubbing her arms.

They didn't push or persist further, and Karme smiled to herself. However, the excitement of finding fellow mutants didn't run slow through the group, and things quickly got out of hand. Karme placed herself on the couch and watched the others mingle and cause chaos.

"Hey, Karme," a voice spoke besides her, making her flinch. "Oh, sorry," Hank looked utterly guilty and quite red in the face as he took a seat beside her. She smiled at him kindle. "It's Greek, right? Karme?"

"Karme is a harvest Goddess. The rough translation is 'to shear'." She turned to him slightly, finding it easy to maintain gentle eye contact. He smiled to her but it quickly turned to confusion. Karme had figured he didn't simply sit by her to ask her about her name.

"Why aren't you as excited as everybody else? The realization that there are dozens of mutants around the world….it's incredible."

"Even if some of those mutants are horrible people?" Karme asked.

"Well, yea." Hank's eyes were bright. Karme almost envied them.

"I've grown up knowing there were others out there like me. This place, this CIA base, it's hauntingly familiar. During my childhood I came to know a lot of things that I probably shouldn't have." Gaze traveling and voice dropping, Karme didn't see the wonder in Hank's eyes.

"That sounds rough," he said. "Where your parents the ones to tell you everything? I'm guessing they were CIA agents?"

"My parents are dead."

Left in utter shock, Hank's mouth hung open and his face seemed to spam.

"Come on, let's party," Karme mumbled, lifting herself form the couch and wiping the fresh tears from her eyes. _They wouldn't want you to cry, Karm, hold it together,_ she scolded herself, mentally flipping the switch to her emotions and loosing herself in all the smiling faces.

She didn't even realize that she was having fun until it ended.

Sean was throwing chairs at Darwin who was quite effectively living up to his name, and Hank hung from his feet on the lights and ceiling beams. Raven and Karme were dancing to the music on top of the coffee table, loud giggles and snorts escaping them as Angle flew around and Alex destroyed stuff. Karme and Raven jumped around on the couches and kicked all the cushions off, high-fiving Hank as he swung past and laughed as Darwin withstood another chair attack.

"Harder!" Darwin yelled repeatedly and Karme and Raven looked over quizzically only to find Alex with a metal rod, repeatedly hitting him over the back with it. Darwin wasn't affected at all, though the pole was beginning to bend.

Suddenly, a voice rang out, "What are you doing?" Everybody stopped and turned, Karme immediately making eye contact with Erik and looking away. Stepping down from the couch, she couldn't help but feel completely embarrassed and was helpless as a sense of disappointment washed over her.

The others looked completely surprised, Hank immediately righting himself on the actual ground and Darwin reverting to his natural form.

Moira pointed behind her, her voice angry like a mother's. "Who destroyed the statue?"

Karme stopped listening and the words around her became a slow soup. She could feel somebody's gaze on her but she didn't care enough to look. Disappointment flooded her entire body and stray tears made their way down her face. She quickly wiped them away as discreetly as she could, smoothing down her hair and staring at her feet.

"Exceptional." Erik's flat tone rose to Karme's attention and she looked up, confused for a moment, before realizing that Raven must have told them about the codenames. She had to admit, outside of the moment, it all seemed kind of stupid.

Yet she couldn't look away from Erik's face. There was no clear emotion on it – there never was. Karme could pick apart little pieces, a bit of boredom, a dash of disappointment, a speck of annoyance…and anger; always present in the corner of his eyes where his smile should be.

He was the first to turn his back on them and walk away.

Moira was next, and, of course, Charles was last.

"I expect more from you," he said, staring straight at Raven. Karme noticed the tone of his words, the bitterness and accusation. His glare was hard, harder than Karme would have thought possible from a gentle soul like Charles. She also noticed the way that all three of them only looked at Raven. The broken look on her face was enough to erase all the venom Karme had toward the girl.

What a twisted life to lead, always being the one that the finger's pointed at.


	5. F O U R

Karme went after them as soon as the shock and disappointment wore off. Ignoring the sideways looks, she fled from the glass encased concrete prison and sent off to find Charles.

Surprisingly, she found him alone in a conference room. She was expecting him to be with Moira - or at least for Erik to be somewhere near. Faltering as he looked up and his eyes focused on her with small annoyance, Karme stuttered, "Um, knock knock," from where she stood in the open doorway, hand still on the doorknob.

Charles's face sprouted a small smile and he nodded to a seat next to him. Karme shuffled over and sat in her designated spot, suddenly feeling a bit self-conscious.

"Um-," she began only to be cut off by his calm voice.

"Listen, Karme, I know I said we could talk, but this really isn't the time. Erik and I have a lot of work. Could we discuss things later?"

Karme nodded her head vigorously. "No, that's fine! I just-"

"Not now, Karme. I'm sorry. "Charles gave her a small, sad smile and looked back down at his papers.

Karme was bewildered. She fiddled in her seat for a few seconds before she got up, making her way back out of the room. At the door she glanced back, expecting Charles to be looking at her or about to call her back – it just seemed something he'd do—but there was nothing. With a troubled frown she closed the door behind her, turning just as she bumped into a sturdy figure.

And then she was on the floor and there was deep laughter above her. She looked up to see Erik, hardly phased, looking down at her with his gruff smile. He offered her a hand up and she flashed back to the bar the previous night as she reached out for it. But then she was on her feet and he was staring at her and she cleared her throat awkwardly.

"I was just trying to see if I could help…but Charles seemed to think I wanted to tell him my life story." Karme figured he was still standing there because he wanted an explanation when she realized she was standing in front of the door. He had probably just been on his way to see Charles. "Um, but that's not important – sorry," she apologized as she tried to move out of his way. Not realizing their hands where still together, she managed to head-butt him in the face. Her mouth flew open and she held her hands out, stuttering an apology.

"Oh- I'm –ah! I'm _so_ sorry!" She squeaked, wishing she was absolutely anywhere but there.

Erik had stumbled back a step, his hand rubbing gingerly at his jaw as he stared at her with those cold eyes. And, was that amusement? Karme watched as he shook his head and let out a small laugh, involuntarily smiling along with him.

She shook her head. "Really, that was _not_ what was supposed to happen. _God,_ I'm such a klutz."

"You really want to know what's going on?" He asked, completely changing the subject on her. She was confused but nodded her head.

"Come on, I'll tell you." He nodded his head forward, and turned away from the door.

"Really? She asked, her eyebrows rising much further than she would have preferred. Erik rolled his eyes and gave another short bark of laughter. Karme was surprised to be admitting that it really suited who he was; even his laughter sounded rough. She kind of liked it.

"Really," he promised, and she followed him as he began to walk, "besides, apparently Charles isn't in the mood for talking. Did you try head-butting him? He might have given in."

Karme groaned as he laughed again, but she found another smile composing its way onto her face. They walked in comfortable silence for a few minutes, their footsteps in perfect sync.

Finally, Erik began to speak. "Charles and I are leaving tonight." His words were less of an explanation and more of a declaration, but Karme was intrigued and rather surprised.

"What? Why?" She inquired. He glanced at her sideways. Karme internally nodded; of course he had a problem with 'silly, stupid and child-like' questions. He didn't seem to be the kind of man to settle for the simple things in life. Perhaps he felt they were below him…or maybe he was just too complex to understand them.

"We have information on where Shaw might be. Or, at least, we have information on someone who can tell us where Shaw might be." He answered her nonetheless and it felt like a small victory to her. The good feeling didn't last long. Instead, it was replaced with confusion and distrust. Not that she didn't trust them, she thought she did. At least, she felt like she trusted Charles.

"Without us?" There it was: the big question in her mind. She stopped walking and immediately so did Erik. "What's with that?" She exclaimed, immediately cringing and wishing she hadn't. She felt like a child throwing a tantrum. She cleared her throat, smoothed down her hair and tried again.

"I only mean, what's the point of throwing together a super team if you just leave us behind?" By the look on Erik's face, she hadn't done much better the second time around.

"Charle's little team is a joke." _Okay, ouch,_ Karme thought, but didn't dare interrupt him. "I thought – maybe – it could have been something. But then there you were, partying and acting like children." His words stung. They were sharper than a lot of memories Karme could think up, and she realized they were meant to be insulting, too, which made it all the worse. Why did his words always hurt so much?

"Well, maybe if you and Charles had cared enough to actually tell the team what was going on, then we would have taken this a little more seriously!" She yelled, hating the way her voice rose in pitch. The underlying tone in the conversation was obvious, however. The way he said ' _you'_ she knew it wasn't just the general 'you all' but rather it was also a direct hit at her. She didn't see what the problem was, it wasn't like she had directly betrayed him or anything, yet he acted as if she had.

Erik scoffed – a sound that resonated deep within her heart. She made a face at him. Not her proudest moment.

"Look, we just don't need out super-secret child soldiers, okay?" He flung at her, making her whole face scrunch up in anger.

"But you will and you know it." His face twitched, the anger seemingly leaving for a second before it was back stronger than ever.

"At least let me come with," she forced herself to take deep breaths, trying to be the bigger person. She had barely said anything and he had nearly blown a gasket. Not that she was entirely out of the blame either but…she doubted this was as angry as Erik could get and just thinking about it scared her. She got the notion that it was wise not to mess with him.

Somehow her mouth just wasn't getting the memo.

"Moira's going, right? What's one more 'puny girl'?" She questioned. _God, please just shut up._ What was she doing? That was a question that seemed to be going through her head with frequency.

Erik's jaw was clenched so hard Karme feared his teeth might shatter. In a moment of weakness her anger deflated and she retreated, letting him take the win. Throwing up her hands, she looked at the ground.

"Right, sorry. I'll just go back to the team. Forget I asked."

"Look at you, calling them your team. You barely know them. It's pathetic." She knew his words were a way of gloating his victory but they didn't sting any less. She had to beg herself not to cry. She shuddered imaging the ways Erik would taunt her then. But then, a miracle happened.

"Are you simply incapable of waiting until we get back? Perhaps then we can talk about you tagging along – if you absolutely insist on it."

Karme's head shot up and she looked at him quizzically. It was going to take her a long time to figure this one out. However, her silence must have freaked him out or gave him severe boredom, because he began to turn away.

"I have to go. Important things to do," his words were a forceful tease, "if Charles is ever busy again, you could just tell me that _thrilling_ backstory you must have." Her eyes widened. He smirked at her and then he was walking away and she was left staring after him, more confused than she had ever been in her whole life. There were so many questions running through her head that it made her feel dazed. Or at least, that was her excuse.

As she made her way back to Raven and the rest of the group, she became certain on one thing; Erik was absolutely infuriating.

What right did that dark, handsome man have to build her up until she's floating in the clouds and then rip her down so easily? She was embarrassed; at least she never seemed to run out of that feeling. Replaying it over and over in her head made her want to tear her eyes out. She had been such a baby!

As she entered the room again, everyone turned to look at her. This time, Karme didn't feel so stressed under all the attention. She'd been expecting it.

"Where'd you run off to?" Alex's smug voice directed her attention over to him as she closed the door.

"I was trying to see what they were doing." Karme explained, earning her the approval of the rest of the group in the form of smiles and agreeing murmurs.

"And?" Angel asked, "What did Charles say?"

"Actually, Charle's was a bit distracted," Karme said honestly and everybody seemingly lost hope and began to talk amongst themselves. Karme shook her head in amusement.

"But Erik told me what was going on. Er, sort of." This gained everyone's attention yet again. Hank look quite impressed and Alex smirked at her, making her do a double take. Did she have something on her face?

But what was most intriguing was the way Raven reacted. She marched right up to Karme, insistent look on her face.

"You talked to Erik?" She demanded. Karme nodded. "Well? What did he say?"

"He just sort of told me that Moira, Charles and he had some work to do."

"That it?" Hank asked, though his eyes were trained on Raven. Karme was tempted to coo at how cute he was.

"He said they were going after someone who knew where Shaw was."

"Great! When are we going?" Alex was already standing, rubbing his hands together. "Finally, I've been waiting for some good action."

"Actually," Karme began sheepishly, scratching the back of her head, "He said we're supposed to stay here until they got back."

Outrage. Everybody began complaining at once, though Alex's voice was unsurprisingly the loudest. Raven threw her hands up and was saying something to Angel who was nodding instantly and even Sean had plopped back down in his chair and pouted. Only Hank seemed to be at a loss for words and Karme was surprised to see him hovering over her shoulder.

She turned to him. "He did call us kids. Said this was a stupid idea."

"He's like that." Hank said, yet again. "He's a complete asshole." Even though Karme should have agreed, she felt oddly offended by Hank's words and instead shook her head.

"Doesn't he have a point?" She asked, though she had no idea why she was defending the aforementioned asshole. Hank narrowed his eyes at her.

"Does it matter if he does?" He countered and Karme became uncomfortably troubled thinking about it. "He doesn't have a right to act like that. Like he's superior to us. We're all the same – we're all mutants. We should all be celebrating, not ranking ourselves in terms of power." He seemed mad and Karme found herself nodding to his words.

"You're right." She gave him a soft smile and he easily returned it. He was quick to look away, and his smile only grew as he did so. Karme followed his gaze to Raven, who had stepped onto a table in the middle of the room. She shook her head. _What a lovesick puppy._ But she had to admit, Raven definitely looked like she belonged there: the center of everyone's attention.

"Guys. Guys!" Immediately everyone was quiet and looking at her. Even Alex had given up his crusade of violence and folded his arms as he gazed up in her general direction. "So what, we're not going? Yea, it sucks, whatever. But they will not get rid of us that easily!" A quiet chorus of cheering went up through the group, smug hoots and general agreements. Karme simply watched. "We'll be here when they get back and we'll be here even if they kick us out. They wanted us, so here we are. And we're here to stay." She looked across their small group, a smug smile resting on her lips. "They wanted powerful mutants? Well here we are!" More cheering went up, making Karme raise an eyebrow. Was everybody really buying that into this speech? Karme had to admit that it was good, and that Raven certainly was made to be a leader, but her words were thoughts in Karme's head that she'd already settled on. She wasn't going away and she didn't need someone else to help her make that decision.

"Go back to your rooms, get some sleep, and in the morning: we party!" Raven jumped off of the table with a yell as she finished and everyone followed suit with similar yells of their own as they filed out of the room. Karme had to grab at Hank to get his attention as he smiled lazily and walked after her.

"W-what?" He asked, and Karme narrowed her eyes at him.

"What, have you never seen a girl before?" She snapped, but instantly regretted it as a look of shock crossed his face.

"I'm sorry," she apologized eagerly, hand still gripped onto his arm. "Look, I don't know what's gotten into me today. It's been…it's been a rough couple of days. I'm not myself, I promise."

"Hey, it's okay," Hank shrugged and smiled at her and Karme felt even worse. "If you ever need someone to talk to, you can talk to me," he offered and she could tell it was genuine. He maybe even wanted her to talk with him about it.

"Thank, Hank," she forced a smile. "Listen, that speech was great and all, but shouldn't we really be focusing on something else than, well, partying? I mean isn't that what got us in trouble in the first place? If we want to show Charles and Erik that we're serious, we should be focusing on Shaw."

Hank escaped her grip. "I don't want to show them anything," he said.

"Hank," Karme took a deep breath. "You have to admit-"

"Yea, you're probably right," he cut her off, looking around them at the empty room. "Look, I'll see you tomorrow okay? We can talk." He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze and left the room, leaving her by herself.

"Great," she mumbled, thinking over the day in her mind. "I guess it's been a long day..week…life for everyone then." She wasn't really tired, but the thought of staying in the room alone for the whole night was enough motivation for her to retire to her room and deal with tomorrow's events tomorrow.

The morning came slow and painfully to Karme, another night of nightmares and haunting images. She felt comforted by the thought that Charles hadn't been there that night to invade her mind. Granted, he said he wouldn't ever again without her permission, but she still felt oddly secure knowing that it wasn't even an option last night.

She washed her hair and let it hang in loose curls as she put on more CIA sponsored sweats, wrapping her hands more loosely and making her way back to the lounge. She briefly wondered how Erik and Charles were doing, but her mind became otherwise occupied as she entered the room and found it to be full of smiling faces. And Alex's, but you can't please everyone.

"Good morning," Sean bumbled to her and she greeted him back as she sat next to Darwin on one of the couches.

"You know there are other clothes in the closets, right?" Raven laughed lightly, glancing at her attire.

Karme shrugged and let out a lame, "oh." Everyone laughed at her, but she found it easily to force herself to laugh along.

They spent most of the morning and afternoon like that, just talking and enjoying each other's company. They got to know each other a bit more, and Karme was glad to find that there were no harsh feelings over the last night from anyone, especially Hank. She was starting to figure everyone out; Raven was definitely the leader, Darwin would make a good solider or friend, Hank was easily offended but genuinely one of the kindest souls she had ever met, Angel on the other hand wasn't her favorite but she was nice enough, Alex was rude and a gigantic jerk yet Karme liked him just fine, and then there was Sean. Karme blamed her incapableness to read him on the fact that he must be high all the time. It was the only explanation.

They had been allowed to order pizzas again, however that worked at a secret CIA base, and had thoroughly enjoyed their meal as Hank told them science-y stories and Alex interrupted in order to get his quota fill of jerk in for the day.

Karme realized that Hank was seriously smart. She had figured out that he had been working for the CIA before Charles and Erik had started recruiting mutants, and he even helped them recruit faster. The fact that he had done all that and at such a young age simply blew her mind but it also made her a bit gloomy. He reminded her so much of her adoptive parents, especially her father, Robert, who had basically the same story. Karme just hoped Hank didn't suffer the same fate.

Soon it began to grow dark out and Karme realized just how fast the time had gone. She had just yelled at Alex – again – for making fun of Hank, who seemed to be his favorite target for some unknown reason. Did he have a thing for Raven, too? She didn't see it. Sure, Raven was ungodly attractive, but Karme couldn't see Raven being Alex's type.

"You," Alex said, pointing at her, "are no fun." His face was serious but his words only poked fun so Karme laughed and gave him a look.

Alex stood up, patting Darwin on the back. "Come on, Adaptor, let's play some pinball. Someone around here's gotta know how to have fun." He looked back at Karme and she feigned offence, causing them both to laugh. Darwin didn't seem to take any offense to the nickname and got up, and the two of them began to play. By the way Darwin lost so easily, Karme figured Alex had a bit more free time in prison than he had mentioned.

She was talking with the rest of the group about nothing really, when two CIA agents came up to their window and started knocking on it.

The one spread his arms and looked to his buddy. "Oh, I didn't know the circus was in town!" He exclaimed and they both laughed. Karme shook her head. Those were _grown_ men, right? This kind of behavior had definitely never been allowed in her home.

The same man turned to Angel, taunting her. "Hey, come on honey, give us a little," he motioned his arms like he was flying, and Karme glanced at the young woman. She looked less than impressed. Hank, however, looked troubled.

"No? Huh, hey how about the foot? Come on, show us the foot," Hank stood up, and for a second Karme thought he was actually going to give those assholes what they wanted. But then he closed the curtains and she let out a small breath of relief.

Raven turned towards Angel. "They're just guys being stupid," she said in an attempt to console her. Angel turned her head to Raven and Karme watched from where she was sandwiched on the other couch between Hank and Sean.

"Guys being stupid I can handle," she said, "ok, I've handled that my whole life. But I'd rather a bunch of guys stare at me with my clothes _off_ than the way these ones stare at me."

Raven looked troubled before she added, "At us." Karme shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She hadn't really thought about it much, since the bar. Her whole life used to be dependent on her not going outside, in public for a whole different reason than her being a mutant. But now…was she doomed to stay in hiding forever?

Everyone was just solemnly looking around when there was a weird banging sound. Karme immediately looked back at the pinball machine to see if Alex had kicked it in anger, only to find him and Darwin looking around in confusion as well. There was another noise like it and she made eye contact with Hank. They each shared the same question; _what was going on?_

A third noise sounded and Darwin took a few steps away from the pinball machine. "What was that?" He patted Alex on the arm, walking away. "Something doesn't feel right." The noises continued as everyone stood up and gathered around the window where Darwin drew the curtains open.

At first they saw nothing, each trying to bend around the other to get a good look at the outside. But then there was a flash of red and Darwin pointed up at the moon where two figures seemed to be floating.

"What is that?"

Then one of the figures disappeared and the body of a CIA agent came crashing towards earth, landing with a sickening crunch right in front of the window. Everybody jumped back, Raven and Angel each giving out screams of terror. Angel grabbed onto Sean as they all backed away, watching as more bodies began to drop for the sky. It was like nothing Karme had ever seen and it chilled her to her bones.

One body crashed into the light fixture right outside and shattered it, causing more screaming, this time Karme was included.

Someone pounded on the glass and screamed at them to get back. They huddled close together as they scurried backwards, their scared gazes trained on whatever was happening just on the other side of that glass.

When a figure teleported behind all the CIA agents all of them screamed and pointed but it didn't seem to do any good. When the shooting began they dove behind the tables and chairs, and Karme was vaguely aware of Alex shoving her behind him. The glass shattered and there was a tornado like thing behind them, causing even more frantic yelling and panicking. Darwin, brave soul that he was, tried to shield them all with his body.

Karme watched helplessly as the red demon _thing_ murdered all the men trying to protect them, clinging desperately to Alex's arm.

"Stay here my ass!" Darwin screamed, waving them up and pointing to an exit to their side. "Let's go!" He led the way as they followed, all running towards a group of CIA agents who immediately tried to stop them, shouting for them to get back.

"We can help! We can help!" Darwin screamed, his voice matched with the others as they tried to be useful. Anything but tiny and scared, Karme pleaded. There was a flash of fire and they all screamed again, Darwin pushing them back to the lounge room that they had just tried to escape.

So there they were, forced to watch in horror as terror rained down on either side of them. The tornado sent a body crashing through the glass behind them and Raven shrieked, causing everybody to huddle up against the back wall and try to watch both sides. It was nearly impossible.

Then the tornado stopped and Karme realized there was a man there, right where it had been. _They were mutants!_ What should have been an exciting thing suddenly terrified her and she let out a cry as the two men started to walk through the broken glass and into the room. Alex made sure he was in front of her, his arms reaching behind him as if that would solve all her problems. But Karme wasn't about to complain.

There was shooting again that jarred them all, and a voice telling someone where the mutants were. Betraying them, giving away their location. It wasn't like it mattered, two others had already found them, but the words still stung.

Suddenly the door opened and a tall man in a suit stepped in, wearing a weird grey helmet. They all stared in silence. Finally, helmet-man decided to speak.

"Where's the telepath?" He asked the red mutant, who looked unsure.

"Not here," he answered in a Russian accent.

"Too bad," the man replied, smiling at them. "Well, at least I can take this silly thing off," he took off his helmet, Karme getting a good look at his long brown hair and overall prideful demeanor.

"Good evening," his blue eyes were piercing. "My name is Sebastian Shaw," Karme gasped, causing Alex to take a glance back at her. This was Sebastian Shaw? Then…were Charles and Erik okay?

"And I am not here to hurt you," he continued as he walked forward. The entire group tensed. One last CIA agent shouted at them but the red mutant, Azazel it turned out, made quick work of him.

"My friends," Shaw greeted with a sickeningly sweet smile, "there's a revolution coming when mankind discovers who we are, _what_ we are, what we can do." He was close now, so close Karme could almost reach out and touch him. It wasn't on her top list of things to do.

"Each of us will face a choice: be enslaved, or rise up to rule." His smile quickly turned into a sneer. "Choose freely, but know that if you are not with us, then, by definition, you are _against_ us. So, you can stay, fight for the people who hate and fear you, or you can join me and live like kings." His powerful gaze swept over each of them, taking careful actions to look at everyone thoroughly. Karme had to concentrate hard on not shuddering when their eyes met. She only half succeeded.

She could see the danger in this man, just by being in the same room as him. There was something about him that was just so powerful that it couldn't possibly be good. Being so near to him made Karme want to tuck away and cry. Of course, she couldn't do that. She'd been weak enough as it was these last few days. It was time to suck it up and show no fear. Or, as little fear as possible.

Shaw turned his gaze to Angel. "And queens," he whispered, and Karme looked over to see Angel seriously considering this. She narrowed her eyes and tried to make eye contact, pleading her not to be so stupid. This is the man they had been recruited to stop, not join!

But he offered her a hand and she reached out and took it, letting Shaw lead her away.

"Angel," Raven called after her, a look of disbelief on her face.

"Are you kidding me?" Sean asked, clearly upset.

"Come on," Angel said, "We don't belong here. And that's nothing to be ashamed of."

Darwin held out his hand for her to take, but she quickly turned and kept walking with Shaw. The group was stuck in silence. Nobody could believe it.

"We have to do something," Raven decided, and Karme saw Alex nod in front of her. Darwin turned and whispered something to him, and Alex looked skeptical at first but soon he seemed to agree.

"Stop!" He called out, walking out to them. "I'm coming with you." Karme saw Angel smirk and was filled with disgust.

He and Shaw shared a few words before Darwin walked over to Angel and called out Alex's name. The group ran for cover as Darwin shielded Angel and Alex spun off his intense rings of energy.

Karme was so hopeful it was going to work; she almost didn't have any doubts about it. That was, until Shaw seemed to catch the energy in midair and absorb it. He said something that went over Karme's head – she was still stuck on what he just did.

Then Darwin went to punch Shaw but he easily blocked, grabbing Darwin's jaw and forcing his mouth open.

"Adapt to this," he whispered, and proceeded to shove the absorbed energy down his throat.


	6. F I V E

Not everybody stayed to watch. Shaw, his men, and Angel teleported away, leaving only the remaining loyal mutants to stand and watch in horror as Darwin began to twitch. His body began to shift through adaptions, and Karme knew he was trying anything – adapting to survive. But Alex's power was just too strong. Karme held back a sob as she watched the energy flow through him, no amount of metal skin or stone cells could stop it.

Stone Darwin turned toward a hard-faced but mortified Alex and reached out – desperately searching for any help he could get. But they could do nothing. He began to glow, a kind of glow that reminded Karme exactly of her own powers, and then he crumbled.

Her own shaking hand clamped itself around her mouth as she let out a strangled sob, falling to her knees on the ground. Raven started to cry and Hank was by her side in a minute, gently rubbing her back and telling her that it would be okay. Sean came over to Karme and stood close, but even he was to shaken to offer a helpful hand.

She couldn't stop staring at where his body used to be, now a pile of broken rock, as she fought to maintain a steady breath. She could see Alex out of the corner of her eye, noticing how he hadn't even moved a muscle. He just stood there, petrified.

It was all too much. Not another one. Not another death so close to all the other ones. She had hoped- no she had _needed_ this to be different. Charles's promise of a family, the exact same one she had turned down just days ago rung in her head. _'Yes, we want to stop him, but everybody else here is lacking something too. Something we can all have after Shaw is stopped: a family.'_

But Shaw had been the one to kill him – Darwin –her _brother._ Because, she realized, want it or not they were a family. They needed each other, only Angel couldn't see that. And she still left with them, even after Darwin died to bring her back.

Karme tasted the bile rising in her throat. She gave a dry heave, her cold hands pressing into her forehead. Raven's crying rang in her ears as she began to rock back and forth, her own tears falling faster than they could dry.

It was all too much.

The next thing she knew, Karme was bent over and puking all over the broken glass. She was barely smart enough to remember not to cut up her hands any worse as her stomach contents came up, and Sean knelt down next to her to hold her hair. Karme was out of embarrassment to spare as she continued, she was only glad that he was there with her.

And Darwin was but ten feet away, his body spread into the ground in millions of pieces.

Somehow the minutes passed and the crying stopped. The group managed to pull themselves together enough to move away from Darwin and sit on a stone bench amongst all the rubble. Sean helped Karme sit down and Alex calmly sat next to her, looking straight forward with a hard gaze. She was vaguely aware of Raven and Hank beyond them, but her brain just couldn't seem to focus on the present. It was focused on what had happened in the past, on Darwin's face slowly shattering, his stone eyes pleading for help which none of them could give –

A car pulling up through the chaos that was previously the CIA base broke her thoughts. She looked around to see CIA agents racing all over the place, but each of her friends were in the same far-out state of mind that she had been in. She took a moment to look around at them, at their broken spirits.

 _These are my friends._

She realized suddenly that she'd never had friends in America. Her adopted sisters were the closest she had ever come. In hiding, she really wasn't allowed to meet many people, but her family had made it work. She never felt lonely or friendless. Her brain went way back to her vague time in Greece, a name on the tip of her tongue and an image flickering through.

But then Erik slammed his car door and it all slipped back into the void.

"Raven!" Charles called. She had never seen someone run so fast in her life. Raven stood up and echoed his name back and they embraced in a warm hug, Karme too fazed to appreciate the heart-warming scene in front of her.

Erik and Moira came after him at a slower pace, and the rest of the group looked up. Erik was wearing that familiar leather jacket, somehow bringing a sense of comfort to her. _At least some things never change._ He was also wearing sunglasses, but, as she looked at him, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was looking right back at her.

That was somehow comforting too.

Charles and Raven finally let go of each other, Charles turning to address the rest of the group.

"We've made arrangements for you to be taken home immediately." Her dark gaze finally broke from Erik's as it settled on Charles, her expression confused and bewildered. There was no way she was going home. She didn't even have a home! She cast a glance both ways and was glad to see that it was unanimous. They were here to stay.

Raven went to protest but Sean beat her to it. "We're not going home," Karme nodded, looking to Erik again. He was still watching her. She was sure of it.

"What?" Charles asked as if he had actually not heard the boy. Karme wasn't sure if she was keen on staying because or her morals, or the fact that she didn't want to face how utterly lost she would be back out on the streets. She wanted to play pretend and say it was the former.

Sean motioned to Alex. "He's not going back to prison." Karme had almost forgotten that's where Charles and Erik had picked Alex up. Sure, Alex could be coarse, but Karme had a hard time placing him in prison.

"He killed Darwin!" Alex added, his voice filled with rage.

"All the more reason for you to leave," Charles insisted. "This is over." He said it like it was true.

"Darwin's dead, Charles," Raven repeated. "And we can't even burry him." He turned to face her, ready to argue when Erik spoke instead, his eyes somehow burning into her through his sunglasses. Her words echoed in Karme's mind. She hadn't even thought about it. Bile rose in her throat again.

"We can avenge him." Karme nodded slowly as everybody turned their attention to him, though somehow Charles seemed less than impressed.

"Erik, a word please." The two turned away for a private discussion and Karme leaned over to Hank.

"We're not leaving," she told him, and she was beyond grateful when he nodded.

"I know. And they know it, too," he replied, nodding his head to where Charles and Erik stood, their backs turned towards them. It was nice to hear someone be so sure of something.

"We're going to avenge him," Alex said. "It's not a question of right or wrong, it's just a necessity."

They all nodded to each other.

"Then we're in agreement." Karme finalized, and they all turned to look at Charles as he turned towards them.

"We'll have to train. All of us. Yes?" His voice was like honey, dripping sweetly with a level of authority that Karme didn't even know existed. But she nodded nonetheless, expecting nothing else.

So that made it official. With those words, they had all officially signed up for war. This was wild. It was crazy and insane and absolutely terrifying, but Karme knew without a doubt that it was necessary. She'd barely been here three days but now she was a part of something that she had to see through to the end. If not for herself, then for Darwin.

It was a funny thing, doing something in the name of someone she had known for such a short while. It felt like Darwin had been one of those people she always heard about. Someone you had known forever.

Of course Hank was the one to bring up the need of a location change, which dampened the mood if only briefly. Luckily, Charles was a man with many answers. And rich parents.

The ride over was basically silent, small murmurs of conversation to fill only the most awkward silences.

Soon they were stopped and everybody had gathered to marvel up at the mansion. It was truly the biggest thing Karme had seen in her entire life. Charles had lived here with only his parents? Surely this house was big enough to store the entire population of her small town back in Greece. It was insane.

"This is yours." Karme was sure it was meant as a question but Sean made it seem more like a statement. She could relate.

"No," Charles said with a smug look as he looked back at them, "It's ours." Karme found the gesture quite nice, but she doubted that he didn't feel just a little bit of pride swelling within that humble chest of his. Her neck was starting to hurt from looking so far up. She tried to count the rooms but it was impossible.

"Honestly Charles, I don't know how you survived, living in such hardship" Erik's accent brought Karme a small peace of mind, smiling in quiet amazement at how he still managed to sound so condescending. _The accent helps,_ she noted.

"Well, it was a hardship softened by _me_ ," Raven commented, making her way through the group to be by Charle's side. He put an arm around her and kissed the side of her head, but her gaze never left Erik's and his didn't waver from her either. Karme looked away slightly, accidently making her own eye contact with Alex. She smiled kindly to him but he only looked away, causing her smile to turn into a frown.

"Come on, time for the tour," Raven lead the way as they all followed, Karme gazing around with wild eyes the entire time. Everyone certainly was impressed, though they didn't seem to show it as much as she did.

They were lead through countless hallways, brought through rooms that Karme had never even heard of, and shown every square inch of the entire mansion. And the best part – they were all free to go _wherever they wanted._ Karme had nearly passed out right then and there.

But, there was that overhanging sense of dread, and guilt. She was starting to understand what was going through Alex's headd when it dawned on her that he hadn't made a single rude or snide comment the entire time. She frowned and hung back from the group, walking by his side for a while. She expected him to say something, but he didn't, and Karme wasn't sure if it would be in her place or not if she started the conversation. _It's not your fault,_ she wanted to tell him. He needed to understand at least that.

But they continued to walk in silence, he not even offering her a sideways glance. She just nodded and kept walking, falling back into place with Hank and Sean who both smiled at her.

After what felt like days the tour ended and Karme only had a basic sense of what was where. They stopped in the larger than life dining hall and Charles declared that it was time for dinner.

"Um, yea, there's no food." Sean spoke up from where he had opened the refrigerator door, a deep frown on his face as he stepped aside to let everyone else see the empty shelves.

Charles nodded. "Right, well, I haven't exactly been here in a couple years. We'll order pizza!" He clapped his hands and everyone nodded with a happy smile and took their places at the table as Charles grabbed a phone.

Situated next to the head of the table, Hank sat next to her and Sean directly across. It was no surprise when Erik sat at the front seat, a smug grin coming across her face as she rolled her eyes. She turned to talk to Hank only to realize he was already talking to Raven. She pursed her lips and saw Erik chuckle out of the corner of her eye, and she shot him a look.

"So how are we gonna train?" Sean lumbered, waving his drink as Alex delivered to the rest of them.

"We don't exactly all have the same mutation," Alex agreed, taking his own seat.

"How very observant of you," Erik muttered under his breath, causing Karme to sigh.

"Charles will help us, won't you?" Raven asked as he came to take his seat at the other head chair.

He leaned forward, nodding his head. "Trust me, I will find a way to help each and every one of you become the strongest versions of yourself that you can be. We'll start in the morning. There's not much we can do yet tonight." He leaned back in his chair, a guilty look coming over his face. "Besides, I think the lot of you have had plenty to deal with tonight as is. A bit of sleep can't hurt anything."

Karme suddenly wondered if anyone ever got sick of the sappy way he talked. He was always so formal, so caring and so full of it – pretending he knew just what to do. Karme would bet her life that he was just as lost as they all were. _He's winging it,_ she realized, _because someone has to._

And so her shoulders let up and she viewed him with a newfound respect. He wasn't being all large and in charge because he wanted it, no he was just trying to be the voice of calm during the storm. She could admire that.

Thankfully the pizza didn't take long to come and soon they were all chowing down like they hadn't had food all their lives. As Karme ate all she tasted was sludge, but she doubted it mattered. It was simply comfort food – no amount of flavored bread would taste good right now, no matter how well it was seasoned. They were all stuffing their faces to try and forget. It was almost funny.

So they laughed and joked and Karme joined along even though it bothered her and didn't feel right at all not to talk about Darwin. Darwin, who had died not twelve hours before, who had been a kind face amongst all the others.

Karme was a dweller. She liked to dwell on things, let them stew. She gave everything its needed amount of time before she moved on, but she respected that everybody was different. These people in front of her all seemed to need to move on, to forget about it. She wasn't about to slow their healing process.

It wasn't long before all the pizzas were gone and the boxes strewn across the gorund, and everyone naturally looked to Charles for guidance. It was interesting to note that Charles didn't mind the mess. She wasn't sure if he was just letting it slide for the night, or he genuinely didn't care.

The conversation had long since died; Karme wanted to blame it on the late hour, but she knew what thought was gnawing at the back of everyone's skulls.

"Everyone, get some rest. There's rooms along the west and east halls. We'll reconvene tomorrow and start right away. Good night."

Nobody was slow to leave. Except Karme, that was. She stayed seated and watched as everyone left with gentle calls of sweet dreams that sounded just as fake as they were. There would be no easy sleep for anyone tonight.

Soon only she, Raven and Charles remained, and as she got up out of her seat they glanced her way.

"Goodnight, Karme," Charles said kindly to her with a smile. She nodded to him in return and could hear their conversation pick up as she left the room. Raven sure knew how to play both sides.

She blamed her attitude on the late night. _You always get grumpy when you're stressed._ She sighed to herself as she wandered down the halls, wondering which room she would take.

As she passed a door it opened, and she glanced at the figure in the doorway. Erik. A confused look crossed her face as she padded closer to him.

"Oh, it's you," he spoke flatly, and her face twitched. He was already starting with the rude words and she hadn't even made it the whole way over to him. She debated turning and walking away, but was too nice of a person to do that. Besides, it would be nice to talk to someone, even if it was Erik.

"Yep, just me," she said coolly, pushing some hair out of her face as she came to stand before him. His alluring blue eyes peered into hers.

"Well you'll forgive me if I thought an elephant was parading about." His eyes were like blades, cutting right through her skin. His words, like usual, hurt.

"What, did you come out here just to make fun of me? I'm honored," she tried to put as much venom into her words as he and his, but with all of that effort they just fell flat. How did he manage? Especially in a situation like this? Karme found it quite rude. But then again not much about him wasn't.

"I was getting some water," he replied, completely unfazed. This further irritated her, and she had to fight with herself not to go full-blown psycho.

"Be my guest," she retorted, motioning him past her. He stood his place in the doorway, his hand coming away from the door to cross with his other arm over his chest as he leaned coolly against the wooden frame. She hated the way her eyes followed his every move.

"I'm good." His words were simply infuriating.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded, her eyes flashing with anger. She wanted to smack that smug look right off of his annoyingly attractive face. Oh, so is that what she thought now? He's attractive? _Great, just great._

"I simply meant that talking to you is _much_ more fun." His grumbling voice was laced with poisonous sarcasm, every word simply dripping with it. She flared her nostrils. _Your accent comes out more when you're being sarcastic;_ she was tempted to say, though she had no clue why. She hadn't even noticed that she noticed until the thought sprung into her brain. What the hell was going on?

"Somehow I don't think you mean that." There was silence for a long time, a small stare down between the two. Finally, Karme cracked. Go figure.

"So are you naturally this rude to everybody or is it just me?" She tried to look tough, to at least act it. She stood a little taller, tilted her head up and tried to look him in the eyes. His gaze was too powerful and it just didn't relent. She looked away.

"You do irritate me to an amazing extent." She must have missed the way his mouth twitched into a smile as he said this, or the way his voice was actually sparked by humor. She was too wrapped up in her thoughts to notice the way he narrowed his eyes at her, trying to figure her out she as much as she was studying him.

Karme huffed. "You were much kinder when you were actually Raven. Can we go back to that?" Her words finally sounded as rude as she meant them, but she wasn't awarded the victory she so gloriously awaited. Instead, Erik frowned and gave a small nod. She found herself regretting her words. It wasn't fair! Why should he be allowed to feel so high and mighty as he tore her down piece by piece, but she felt like trash whenever she managed to return a small portion of his dealings?

"I for one prefer the non-Raven you. If that counts for anything." Karme couldn't read the man. His words seemed genuine enough, maybe even nice? But his thick German accent and his stone cold composure made everything he did sound and look insolent.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?" Things weren't adding up. She was the one who got pulled by Raven, not he, so what was he implying?

"When Charles asked me to show you around that night. Raven was really on top of her game. One minute I was giving a grandeur tour and the next I was alone in the hallway." He cracked his neck, feigning indifference, but Karme could see through that one.

"You thought I ditched you." The realization sprung on her suddenly, and everything started to make more sense. It definitely didn't explain all of his prick moves, but it did help shed some light on why he seemed to hate her so much.

"But you've known for a while now that it wasn't me; it was Raven." She said the words as they came into her mind, wondering yet why he let this bother him. Surely the man could just let it go and move on with his life.

He shrugged. "I'm good at holding grudges."

Karme smiled at that. "Is that your way of joking? You're always so serious." She saw an opportunity and sprung for it, letting out a small breath of air when it actually worked.

Erik shook his head at her, and she caught a glimpse of what his face would look like if he smiled. Tilting her head, she tried to imagine it. She decided that she liked it.

"Ha, ha," he fake laughed, though his face cracked a little harder and she saw what could have been real amusement spread through his icy gaze.

They reverted back to silence, Erik going to back to being a statue, though Karme felt like she had made considerable progress. She was determined to keep picking at him, knowing he'll either eventually cave or blow up in her face. She desperately hoped for the former, but was almost positive that the chances for the latter were pretty high. She didn't know why she wanted to try to get through to him so much, but she guessed it was because of her mom. _Everyone needs someone, Karme._ She knew Erik had Charles, but maybe everyone deserved to have _two_ someone's.

They must have stared at each other for a couple of minutes before either of them moved. Karme shifted to relieve the pressure on her foot and Erik seemed to straighten up, placing a hand out on the door. Just like that she had broken the spell.

"Well, goodnight." He turned and went back inside his room, leaving Karme gazing after him with wide eyes.

"What, no water?" She called after him, desperate to draw him back out. The door closed gently in her face and she groaned, turning back towards the door as she heard his muffled voice.

"Goodnight, Karme." He was probably too far away to hear her now, but she called back anyway.

"Goodnight, Erik."

The darkness of the hallway immediately freaked her out, and she strained to keep a level head. As irrational as she knew it was, Karme had been scared of the dark for as long as she could remember. She made quick work of her steps as she nearly ran to the next hallway, dashing into the first room she could find. It was a force of luck that it wasn't already occupied.

She stripped out of her CIA friendly clothes and slipped under the covers, her eyes staring straight up at the ceiling for the rest of the night.


End file.
